The passages of time continued. The children of Ranginui and Papatuanuku adorned the earth and the heavens with their offspring.

The time had come for the human form to be produced. Urutengangana was anxious that the earth should be provided with the element of ira tangata. He encouraged his siblings to search for the female element to enable the creation of woman. Urutengangana knew that the ira tangata needed would only come from the earth and not just from himself or siblings as they were of ira atua.

The guardians search was long, they searched both land and sea, then finally Tanematua sought out his mother, Papatuanuku, for her advice and knowledge. Papatuanuku consoled Tanematua for his own and his siblings plight. Taking pity on him, she advised that he search for Kurawaka, for in that place the female is in a state of potentiality, as she is tapu as she contains the seed of the likeness of humans. It would be here that he would find ira tangata, here that he would find the earth that would be essential to create the form of woman.

Tanematua returned to his siblings and spoke of his mothers words. They journeyed to Kurawaka and here they found the red clay that Papatuanuku had spoken of.

The siblings shared in the creation of woman, each contributing to the her form. The older siblings were responsible for the shaping of her body, and the younger added the flesh, fat, muscles and blood. Tukapua and a few others provided the lungs and kidneys. These parts were made separately and then fitted together. After this was completed, Tanematua put the breath of life into her mouth, nostrils and ears. The eyelids opened, the eyes lit up, breath came from the nostrils, hot breath from the mouth, and the living body sneezed. Tihei Mauri Ora!

It is important to note that although Tanematua supplied the breath, Rehua, the head mangai of Io, following the instructions from Io Matua, implanted the thoughts and the living spirit (hau) into her.